Asus2sus4 guitar chord
The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Asus2sus4 — drop 3 voicings
Asus2sus4 is A, B, D and E — Asus4 with the second added underneath the fourth.
It sounds ringing and deliberately ambiguous. Read another way it is a stack of fourths, which is why it works as a pad rather than as a chord that resolves.
Asus2sus4 notes and formula
| A | B | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Texture more than function — still no third.
Also written Asus2/4 or A suspended 2nd and 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Asus2sus4
The same operation one voice further down: the third voice from the top falls an octave and becomes the bass.
That leaves a bigger hole under the top three notes, so a string gets skipped: the muted string in the middle is the shape, not a mistake.
Asus2sus4 has 10 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 12th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass, B in the bass, D in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the B shape at the 2nd fret.
5 of them sit on strings 5-3-2-1, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x00200 — no barre and 4 open strings. 1 of the 5 shapes here sits in open position. 2 of the 5 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x00200 | open position | A, root position | E | 4 open strings |
| 5524xx | 2nd fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
| 557757 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| x-12-9-9-10-10 | 9th fret | A, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-12-12-14-12-12 | 12th fret | A, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 15 drop 2 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Asus2sus4
In which keys. Every note of Asus2sus4 belongs to C major (the vi), D major (the V), E minor (the iv), F# minor (the ♭III), G major (the ii), A major (the I), A minor (the i) and B minor (the ♭VII).
What to play over Asus2sus4
Every note of Asus2sus4 is in A major, A mixolydian, A dorian, A natural minor and A harmonic minor.
Chords near Asus2sus4
Change one note of Asus2sus4 and you have Asus2 (drop the fourth), Asus4 (drop the ninth), Aadd9 (the fourth becomes a major third), Amadd9 (the fourth becomes a minor third), A7sus4 (the ninth becomes a flat seventh) or A11 (add the flat seventh).
Asus2sus4 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. Suspended and power chords on every root.
On Asus2sus4’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.